Gareth Morgan has launched a campaign called, ‘Cats to Go‘ to help eradicate domestic cats. On the website he writes, “That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer. Every year cats in New Zealand destroy our native wildlife. The fact is that cats have to go if we really care about our environment.”

Why the push to get rid of cats? Morgan says, “Cats are incredibly effective hunters and are wiping out our native birds. New Zealand is the last refuge of a huge range of bird species, we’re famous for our claim to be clean and green, and some of us have recognized the huge economic benefit, let alone the ecological dividend, from achieving a Predator Free New Zealand.”

Given that in New Zealand, people own more cats per capita than most other parts of the world, it’s very unlikely that Morgan’s campaign will make it very far, rather be seen as a cat hater. On Morgan’s website, 70 percent of people voted against making their current cat their last.

SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge called the campaign “hare-brained and offensive”. He understands Dr Morgan wants people to stop buying new cats and to not replace pets when they die, but says, “People consider cats to be a member of the family. So he’s trying to, quite frankly, take away the civil liberties we all have to choose who we want in our home.”

Kerridge added that SPCA surveys have shown that fewer than half of New Zealand’s domestic cats killed other animals, and those that did, caught far more rodents than birds. “Gareth Morgan is way out of line because very few native birds fall at the hand of cats, domestic cats,” Kerridge told the NZ Herald.

Morgan has suggested other ways to reduce the impact cats have on native bird populations in New Zealand. “I am advocating responsible pet ownership, not for people to bop their pets on the head. To me a responsible pet owner has their cat neutered, keeps it well fed and indoors as much as possible, and puts a bell on them.”

Morgan’s site claims that the average household cat will bring home 13 pieces of prey each year. A video also makes other claims, such as: “Some cats will kill over a thousand birds each year,” “Every year, hundreds of millions of birds are murdered by cats,” “Cats torture their victims slowly and without mercy,” and “Cats are serial killers, cold and without compassion.”

In the video, research shows that “if you put a small animal next to an eating cat, it will pause, kill it, then return to its meal.” But in the study quoted on the website, it states that of 44 subjects, 26 did not attack the prey (more than 50 percent), and many who did kill presented defensive postures.

Scientific evidence is still unclear if it really is the cats that are wrecking havoc on bird populations. Some studies suggest that cats actually help by keeping rodent populations down, which feed on the bird eggs.

In a 2011 survey done by the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, they found that 48 percent of households in New Zealand owned at least one cat, which is significantly higher than any other developed nation. The survey put the total cat population to be at 1.4 million.

For comparison in the U.S., according to a 2012 survey by the American Pet Products Association, 33 percent of households own at least one cat for a total of 86 million domestic cats.

New Zealand overrun with cats: Anti Cat Campaign

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cat ownership in the world, and at the same time the slackest and most irresponsible laws dealing with cat control. In fact there are no laws.

Cats kill an estimated 27 million birds annually here in New Zealand, which is over half a million per week, or roughly 75000 per day.

We here in NZ have not yet learned that, when we chose a cat as a pet with the intention of letting it roam free, we are making an important moral decision that will impact the lives of many of our fellow creatures.

Cats are the only species besides mankind that torture, maim and kill for “sport”. They carry fleas and all manner of disgusting diseased which they can give to dogs. Dhey’re dreadful beasts. Cats have to GO!

abatap Agreed. It is an animal people. Cats are predators. That’s what they do they hunt and kill things. Birds, rodents, lizards, other cats. Its what happens in the wild it’s what happens in the backyard. If they get rid of the cats in 10 years there going to be bitching about how many fucking birds are all over the place. Shitting all over everything. We should get rid of the birds. But why because there doing what birds do……LIVE just like cats. At the same time New Zealands problem is that everyone there is a cat addict. They have more cats per person then anywhere else in the world. So maybe a limitation to the amount of cats a person can have would be the answer. NOT get rid of all the cats. THINK BEFORE YOU TALK

Yeah because Dogs are naturally resistant to fleas and diseases and the only way they can get such a problem is coming into contact with cats…… god you sound like a complete idiot. You’re just another person with a low education level spouting shite they don’t really know anything about. I say this not to defend cats but to point out your ignorance, because obviously uneducated people who talk shite like you p**s me off.

This round brown body opening part who wants to get rid of cats says nothing about getting rid of humans who destroy more wildlife and each other more than any cat ever thought of doing. He is a loud mouth who likes to hear himself.

If New Zealand wants to control feral cats then import some coyotes. We had a feral cat problem — killing the songbirds, then the coyotes moved in and killed the cats, and now the songbirds are back. The problem is that there is no predator balance.

Maybe someone should abolish mankind since we are responsible for habitat destruction, wildlife extinction, polution, etc. The measurement of destruction for cat vs. human is not even close. Mankind takes the lead by a landslide.

You sound like a total moron when you talk like that, not sayin you are a moron. But that is the most irresponsible and most disgusting thing I will ever hear a person say. You miss the point by leauges and you clearly have little understanding of what is really going on. Please thing before you speak on such subjects and say things like “well maybe ppl should all just die” you sound like a jerk.

I have complex ptsd….alot of it was from cat.hoarding done by my parents. The diseased ultimately rotted their eyes.. I burried so many cats, i ran out of room. My yard became a feline mass grave. A child should not witness such things. But when abandoned in the forest, the cats taught me to hunt. Noq i have my own home and family, and i still own multiple cats, with no plans to acquire more